One Wizard, Two Worlds
by hockeygoalie1992
Summary: When Harry wishes to escape suspicion and scrutiny after his name comes out of the Goblet of Fire, the Room of Requirement sends him to a new world called Equestria.
1. Talking Ponies?

**Disclaimer:**** I don't own the **_**Harry Potter **_**series or the **_**My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic**_** line of toys or cartoon, nor do I claim rights to any of their characters.**

**No, you're not hallucinating, you didn't have too much to drink, this is a Harry Potter and My Little Pony crossover written by the same fiction writer who comes up those depressing monologues for Fear and Loathing. **

**I place full blame for this on one of my betas, the very same one who trolled everyone who regularly reads his fic, Naruto: Ouroboros, maneyan, for putting this idea in my head. It started out as a joke, but then he convinced me to start watching the show so I would know the material for my own little gag project.**

**It doesn't help that he's encouraged the bloody thing along, or, even worse, that I was actually laughing at some of their hijinks.**

**So, once again, this is all your bloody fault, maneyan! I hope your dreams are haunted by Pinkie Pie talking in her rapid fire, nonstop manner of speaking about various parties she's planning and words that sound "funny".**

**As for my other beta, Heliosion (author of Prodigal Son in the Young Justice section), I have two things to say: 1. I'm sorry, good buddy, I've succumbed. Maneyan corrupted me. 2. Don't even try bitching, you have no reason to talk and you know why!**

**But, in all seriousness, this will be a fun project, a little side story that will give me a ray of sunshine in between sessions of working on my darker stories. Also, check out my aforementioned betas and their stories, they're both amazing authors and I owe them a lot.**

**Chapter 1: Talking Ponies?**

"Sodding, buggering hell!" The raven-haired, fourth year student shouted, his voice echoing around the empty seventh floor corridor, turning left and storming down the hall, venting his spleen all the way. There were no classrooms down this hallway; he had free room to work out all his frustrations.

Which he did with gusto.

Every damned Halloween it was the same thing! Something _always_ went wrong for him! Screw Friday the 13th, eat your heart out ridiculous superstitions, Halloween had you all trumped when it came to Harry Potter's life!

Harry could practically feel the steam pouring out of his ears; he hadn't even gone near that bloody Goblet! The closest he'd been was when he watched and laughed with everyone when the Weasley twins tried bypassing Dumbledore's age line, and, as talented as he was with magic, he was nowhere near skilled enough to get around such a complex rune system, especially when crafted by one of the most powerful wizards in recorded history.

Seriously, how could _anyone_ believe that a fourth year could outsmart Albus Dumbledore? Even on at his worst, the near ancient Headmaster, the Supreme Mugwump of the Wizengamot, Defeator of Grindelwald, and holder of far too many other titles to list off, was a genius. Mind bogglingly eccentric, but a genius nonetheless.

Despite all of this, despite all evidence _against_ the mere possibility that he could enter himself in, despite the fact that he could in fact give an alibi, Harry had been roped into the Triwizard Tournament, the legendary spectacle that had been brought back, after being cancelled for the death toll that came with the opportunity for fame and riches.

Because he could _obviously_ do with more fame. In fact, that French girl, Fleur something or other, had nailed it right on the head: it was the opportunity of a lifetime! That was all the motivation an ordinary witch or wizard would need! But she hadn't taken into account one rather significant issue:

Harry Potter wasn't ordinary, not one bit.

Ordinary wizards didn't go down trap doors to save a priceless artifact at eleven years old, nor did they a basilisk at twelve years old. And no ordinary wizard would be caught dead consorting with a werewolf and a convicted mass murderer – even if the werewolf was the best Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher ever and the supposed mass murderer had been framed.

But none of that even compared to the pain he felt, that once again he had to deal with the stares and whispers from his fellow schoolmates, along with students from two foreign schools. From the Hufflepuff's glares and angry mutters, to the uncertainty of the Gryffindors, to the cold shoulder treatment he received from the Ravenclaws, to the gleeful, taunts from the Slytherins, it was Second Year all over again.

Oh, and then came the badges, those stupid badges. The actual wording on them wasn't the issue, Harry actually agreed about the Cedric portion of it. The fact that the majority of the student population at Hogwarts seemed to be wearing them, now that bothered him greatly. But even _that_ wasn't the most troubling issue.

His relationship with his friends, now that was troubling.

To be fair, Harry could sort of see why Ron was always so quick to be jealous; he was the youngest of six brothers, he'd shown his desire to find some way to stand out back when he looked into the Mirror of Erised back in first year. But still, it hurt horribly. Even after all they'd been through, all their adventures, all the laughter, that Ron could think Harry to be an attention seeking prat.

Harry would be lying to himself if he said that he could get over it easily, if he said that he could just forget it all and move on with his life without his best mate.

Hermione, well, she at least still talked to him, but their conversations had become rather awkward. She hadn't come out and said it, but Harry could tell. She didn't know what to believe; she put so much stock in books and authority figures that any sort of rule breaking was met with resistance, the few times she'd broken them had only been out of necessity.

While he was happy that she hadn't outright abandoned him, Harry still felt as though he were alone in the castle. He couldn't go to Dumbledore, as he didn't want to make it seem as though he was conspiring with the aged Headmaster to win the damn thing, he couldn't talk to Ron, and sending a letter to Sirius was a huge risk, since he was still a wanted criminal.

It was all just so bloody stupid!

Harry threw his hands up, shouting profanities at the top of his voice; why bother censoring himself when there was no one around to hear him?

"I've bloody well had it!" He shouted, pacing back and forth, wringing his hands into fists. "This is ridiculous! I can't get a damn break! Not at Privet Drive! Not even in this stupid, bloody castle! I'm done! I've had it with all of this! Everyone! Everything! I want to go away! Far away! I want to be away from people, from wizards, from this entire bloody castle! Every brick, suit of armor, gossiping ghost, even this stupid, thrice damned door!"

He stopped suddenly, turning abruptly to face the aforementioned door. Harry slowly approached it, looking left and right, blinking and rubbing his eyes to make sure that he wasn't seeing things.

Nope. The door was there. But… It hadn't been there before, had it?

"Where did you come from?" Harry asked, talking to himself more than anything. Though, at this point, he wouldn't be surprised if the walls started speaking to him. Weirder things had happened.

Naturally, the wooden door had no answer for him, but Harry continued examining it, first touching it to make sure that it was actually solid and not some trick the castle's magic was playing tricks on him.

It was quite real. There was no trick as far as he could tell. Perhaps he'd just overlooked it; after all, he rarely came down this part of the corridor, so he couldn't really say that this door shouldn't be there, even if he hadn't seen it the first time around.

Still, he could've sworn he specifically checked to make sure he would be alone.

Harry tentatively reached out and pushed open the door, peaking inside to make sure nobody had heard his rant. He was met by total darkness, a pitch black that was more typical of the dead of night rather than just an empty classroom.

"Hello?" he called, stepping into the room and quietly closing the door behind him. "Anyone in here?"

There was no reply save for the echoing of his voice through the darkness. Harry sighed in mild frustration, muttering the Lumos spell under his breath to give himself a bit of light. Still nothing!

This was getting stranger and stranger by the minute! He turned left, he turned right, he raised his wand up and pushed more magic through to light up more area, but still found nothing! No walls, no desks, no unlit torches or candles, nothing! Harry stopped suddenly, gulping and shakily pointing his wand to the ground, hoping that he wasn't in some precarious position, balancing just barely on a narrow walkway, suspended above his doom!

Fortunately, the light showed that he was standing on the safe, solid cobblestone floor that he was accustomed to, so his previous bout of melodramatic panic was quite unfounded and – admittedly – a bit embarrassing.

Thank the powers that be that no one had been around to see this…

Satisfied that he was alone, Harry strode forward, looking for some source of light, anything that he could just light up instead of having to maintain an illumination spell until his temper cooled.

Harry knew full well how horrible his anger control could be at the best of times, and this was most certainly _not_ the best of times.

The frustrated teen took a step forward; peering through the darkness in hopes that he might find something he could use to give himself a more stable light source. To his utter surprise, his foot never made contact with the floor, instead going right through and into an open space. Harry yelped in surprise, wheeling his arms in the air in an attempt to use the momentum to fall backwards and onto what he knew to be solid ground; he'd take the bruised pride over falling into some dangerous mess again.

Unfortunately, the laws of gravity don't stop to give special consideration for comedic performances, no matter how ridiculous the person in question looks when trying to defy them. Thus, Harry fell forward into the darkness with a cry of despair, flailing and tumbling head over heels all the way.

* * *

A purple coated pony with a dark purple and pink streaked mane sat at a desk, reading a book on the history of her homeland, Equestria, by the candlelight. A bit of bedtime reading to unwind from a hectic, but fun, day in Ponyville was one of her favorite activities, especially when her dragon friend, Spike, her number one assistant, was kind enough to make her a hot cup of her favorite tea.

Twilight Sparkle, the most favored student of Princess Celestia, smiled and sighed contently as she took a sip. She'd have to do something nice for him tomorrow; he always seemed to know exactly which brew to make to suit her mood and the type of day she had, his ability to read her was almost uncanny.

Though, considering the fact that the two had been together since the day she'd hatched him as part of her entrance exam into the Princess' school, this shouldn't really be much of a surprise.

She glanced behind her to watch as Spike standing atop a ladder, balancing a large stack of books in one hand while trying to place a rather thick, blue covered book back in the right place on the shelf. He knew full well that he'd be in for an earful if he put so much as one of the librarian's books our of place, so Spike wanted to get this right the first time around.

He really was her number one assistant, even if he did let it go to his head every now and then.

A loud bump from behind her, somewhere near the closet, caused Twilight to jump in shock, knocking over her teacup and spilling its contents all over her clean, organized desk. The unicorn growled in annoyance, turning her gaze back towards her startled assistant, who'd fallen from his perch and landed in a heap beneath a pile of books. "I thought you said you put everything back in the closet _neatly_," she scolded.

Spike groaned in pain, pushing a copy of _The History of Equestria_ off of him, before holding his hands up in a surrendering gesture. "I did!" He insisted. "I put everything back exactly where you said!"

"Then what was that?"

"How in the wide, wide world of Equestria should I know? Maybe one of the shelves just collapsed or something?"

"Or something?" she repeated, quirking an eyebrow skeptically. "Why don't you check and make sure you didn't do a hasty job at the end?"

Her scaled assistant made as if to protest further, but he sighed, sagging his shoulders and stomping over to the closet, grumbling all the way. "Fine!" he snapped as he turned the knob. "But I _know_ I did it right! I'll bet you it was just one of those old closet shelves, Celestia knows this place hadn't been kept well before we got he-AAAAAAAAAH!" Spike was cut off when a large, heavy object hit him directly in the snout, sending him tumbling down to the floor and knocking the wind out of him.

Twilight gasped in shock, rushing forward to check on her beloved baby dragon, but she stopped short as she realized something: this was no inanimate object! This was a living, breathing… _thing_!

In all her studies, both with Princess Celestia and independently, she'd never seen a creature such as this! The creature before her wasn't covered in any sort of fur or scales, save for the messy black mane atop its head, it was garbed in what appeared to be a rough, wooly black robe and black trousers covering its legs, and strange objects covering its hind paws. Upon closer inspection, Twilight noticed that the creature's forepaws resembled that of a monkey or gorilla, the opposable thumb was a telltale sign of at least some primate heritage.

"Ooooh, my aching head!" It groaned in what she judged to be a young male of whatever species he was. Well, at least now she knew she would be able to speak with him without having to bother Fluttershy to translate. "What the bloody hell did I –" The new creatures stopped short upon seeing what it had come into contact with, before recoiling in fear, scrambling away from her fallen assistant. "Merlin's berd, a dragon!"

Spike pushed himself up to view the thing that had knocked him over, fully intending to yell something back, but recoiled in turn when he realized that he'd never seen something like this before. "Dear Celestia, it talks!"

"I talk? How the hell are _you_ talking? Dragons don't talk!"

"Oh yeah? Well, I'm talking to you, pal! And I'm not the one who just came diving out of a closet and knocking over some poor, unsuspecting dragon!"

Twilight blinked rapidly as she watched the strange, new creature arguing with her tiny assistant, shaking her head and refocusing on the matter at hand. She focused her magic into her horn, which glowed magenta with magical energy, and fired a pair of quick bursts at the bickering duo.

Harry yelped in shock as he was engulfed in a strange magenta bubble, frantically looking for an opportunity to escape capture, absentmindedly noting that the little purple dragon had been subdued as well. "What in the world?"

"That was me," Harry turned his gaze to the unicorn, no scratch that; the _purple,_ _talking_ unicorn that had managed to capture him in some odd energy field. "No offence, but I didn't think we'd get any important information from you while you and Spike," she paused to point one of her hooves in the direction of the fuming dragon, who stuck his long, serpentine tongue out at her. "Were yelling at one another."

The raven-haired wizard stayed silent, waiting for her to continue. He could understand it somewhat, he'd be pretty hacked off if someone barged into his room and started arguing and yelling at one of his friends. Here, he was the intruder; he didn't have the right to complain about being contained.

"Fine," He nodded, relaxing his muscles and lowering his voice. "What do you want to know?"

"What do we want to know?" Spike repeated, still angry with the newcomer. "Well, gee, how about who you are! Or better yet, what in Celestia's name even are you?" Before he could continue, his mouth was changed into a zipper and was quickly zipped shut. He turned his angry glare on Twilight, but his demanding that she put his mouth back were muffled.

"Sorry about that," Twilight apologized. "He's a bit excitable. We've never seen anything like – well – you, before! The closest thing I've ever seen is a monkey, but you don't have enough fur to be one of them."

Harry scowled. " I most certainly am _not_ a monkey! I'm a human!"

The purple unicorn stared blankly, cocking her head to the side in confusion. "Hyoo – man?" She tried, testing the word on her tongue. "I've never heard of one of those before."

"Well, I'm a human! So, they look like me!"

"Alright, so you're a human, fine. Would you happen to have a name, or should I just give you one?"

"Do I look like a pet?" He asked gruffly. "My name is Harry Potter." He carefully watched for her reaction, waiting for the widening eyes, glancing up to his scar or the babbling about how he was _the_ Harry Potter.

This unicorn didn't do any of those things; she simply smiled and nodded and, to his pleasant surprise, decided to introduce herself. "Hello, then, Harry Potter," she greeted warmly. "My name is Twilight Sparkle, you've already met my assistant, Spike." At this, Harry's eyes flickered back over to the baby dragon, observing the way he seemed to calm down little by little as Twilight Sparkle held a civil conversation with their unwitting intruder.

"Yes, I've had the pleasure," Harry deadpanned, earning an amused giggle from the purple unicorn. He suspected that it would take a while for him to get used to her odd coloration.

Wait! Couldn't this just be a dream? After all, unicorns and dragons don't talk, and, no matter how convincing it may be, this could be just a very vivid dream. Hell, he probably fell down, hit his head and knocked himself unconscious. That would certainly explain why the little dragon had purple scales and green spines, of all things.

"This is just a dream, isn't it?" Twilight stared in confusion as he continued. "This isn't real, none of it is. I just fell and hit my head in that odd room, and I'm lying there unconscious, aren't I?"

"No, this is all quite real," the pony replied with a shake of her head. "You came tumbling out of my closet and into my home, the Ponyville Library."

"Ponyville?"

"It's the name of the town we're in, but I'll explain that in a moment. Stay focused. When you fell through, you collided with Spike and were complaining about how much it hurt, right?"

Harry shrugged and nodded, not quite seeing where she was going with this. "Well, yeah, but that doesn't mean –"

"Have you ever had a dream where you've felt pain?" She asked, cocking a brow at him. "One where you didn't wake up _just_ as you were about to hit the ground after falling, or where you could feel the pain of something hitting you?"

He opened his mouth to reply in the affirmative, but stopped himself. She was right. Every time he'd had one of those dreams where he'd fallen from the sky, even when he had that odd dream about the Slythering team riding dragons instead of brooms, he'd woken up just as he was about to be hit. Here, however, he felt pain; hell, his ears were still ringing from his headfirst collision with Spike!

This was no dream!

The teenage boy felt panic set in, his heart started racing as the realization slowly came to him. "This is… real?"

Twilight nodded, her eyes softened as she watched the human boy start to hyperventilate within the confines of her magic bubble. She'd been afraid that something like this would happen when he tried to pass this off as a dream rather than accept that he'd apparently stumbled into a new world.

"A new world," he muttered, sounding as if he were trying to convince himself. "I'm in a completely new world! How the hell do I always get mixed up in these things?"

Now, that drew Twilight's attention. "Going to new worlds isn't a new experience?"

"No… well, sort of," Harry replied lamely. "When I was eleven, I found out that there was a secret society of wizards, witches and all sorts of magic hiding in not only my home country, but around the entire world as well! But going to a new world entirely? I'm rather new to that!"

"Magic exists in your world?" Twilight asked, perking up at the prospect of learning about a new form of magic on top of meeting a member of a strange new species.

Harry nodded, a bit wary of the eager pony, which was now bouncing on her hooves. "Yes," he answered hesitantly, covering his ears when she let out an excited squeal of joy.

"Oh, how wonderful!" She cried, clapping her front hooves together. "You've got to show me! This is so amazing!"

"Uh, sure, I guess," he consented. He paused a moment, motioning to her magic bubble. "But first, could you let me out?"

Twilight's cheeks reddened heavily. "Oh, right, sorry!" Her horn ceased glowing and both of her captives were released from their respective bubbles, falling to the ground with a thud. "Sorry!" She cried when the duo sent matching annoyed glares at her.

Harry sighed and decided to calm her down, this was nothing compared to having his arm broken by a bludger. "It's fine," he grunted as he rose to his feet and began dusing off his trousers. "I've had worse."

"Easy for you to say," Spike grumbled, having finally managed to unzip his mouth. "Wait until she does that a few more times, and add in teleportation!"

"Spike!" Twilight scolded in embarrassment. "I don't drop you that much!"

"Yeah, you do! Try every time you teleport me without warning you! Or when you get so excited about reading a book you use magic to pull it _and_ me off the ladder!"

The sight of the previously calm and collected unicorn sputtering and blushing at the reminder of past failures was enough to bring a small smile to Harry's face; he put a hand to his mouth to try to stifle his laughter, but didn't make it in time to prevent the first bout from escaping.

Twilight lowered her ears, hanging her head in shame as the newcomer laughed at her. Here she was, the favored student of Princess Celestia, and a new creature, one capable of magic no less, was learning of her failures. Harry quickly recomposed himself and tried to appease her. "No, no! I'm not laughing at you, Miss Sparkle," He said with a grin. "The two of you arguing like that just reminded me of a couple of people from my world! Frankly, you're not the only one who's had a few mishaps with magic."

"What? You've pulled your assistant off a ladder?" Spike asked incredulously.

"Not quite, but I have had all the bones in my arm removed."

"Arm?" The duo before him repeated, looking to one another in confusion.

"Er, this," he held out his arm for them to see. "Humans call that an 'arm', though I suppose you'd call it a 'forelimb'."

When the pony and dragon considered the implications, their eyes widened in horror. "All of the bones?" Twilight gasped.

"How did you get your arm fixed, then?" Spike asked, horrified at the mere thought of all of the bones in one of his limbs being removed. The image he came up with was – ironically – that of his own forelimb being as floppy and useful as a limp noodle.

"Oh, that was an interesting experience, to say the least," the boy laughed uneasily. "Y'see, we have these potions in our world –"

"You have potions too!" Twilight gasped, cutting him off in her excitement. "Wow! Just like Zecora!"

"Uh, sure, just like Zecora," Harry chuckled, mentally wondering what the hell a 'Zecora' could possibly be. "Anyways, the school nurse gave me a bone regrowth potion. It hurt like you wouldn't believe, but I had all the bones in my arm back by the next morning!"

Twilight's eyes widened in wonder, her attention focused completely on the human boy's tale, her mind working furiously to think of the possibilities, the applications of such a potion in Equestria! Broken legs, ankles, knees and hips had long plagued their race as permanently disabling; if they could use the premise of one of these bone regrowth potions, they could, in theory, come up with a solution to this problem!

But wait! Harry still had to show her his version of magic. That thought alone was enough to make the scholarly pony giddy in a manner that Harry had only seen from Hermione. Twilight dashed across the room, stopping just in front of Harry and resuming her excited bouncing. "Well, come one! Aren't you gonna show me your magic?" She asked, her snout just inches away from his nose.

Harry just laughed in amusement; this was definitely what Hermione would be like as a pony, he was sure of it. "Sure I will, just step back a bit," Twilight was quick to oblige, more than eager to see him at work. "Well, what do you want to see?"

She stopped bouncing for a moment, raising a hoof to her mouth in thought. She grinned as a thought came to her. "I know! Make something float! That's easy enough, right?"

"Actually, that's really basic for us," he replied happily. "It's one of the first spells we learn in school."

"Yeah, that's great and all, but Twilight can do that easily," Spike interjected, folding his arms over his yellow-scaled chest. "So, how do we know this is a new type of magic?"

"Well, that depends on Twilight's answer to my question," he paused to pull his wand from one of the pockets of his robes. "Do you use a wand?"

She shook her head. "No, I focus magic into my horn, all unicorns and alicorns do."

"… Remind me to ask you what that last thing is later," Harry said after a moment's pause. "But, the important thing is that you channel your magic into your horn, a part of your body. I have to bring magic from my body or surroundings and channel it into my wand, then I have to say the incantation."

"Does all magic in your world require incantation?" She asked. Her horn glowed magenta again as she summoned a scroll and quill to her and began writing furiously, taking down every detail of information he'd given her.

"No," he admitted. "More powerful wizards can cast spells without incantations, but I'm still in training."

A laugh from a certain baby dragon caused Harry to frown. "You're still in training?" He cackled.

"Yes, as a matter of fact, I am," Harry replied, smirking wickedly at the tiny reptile as a thought crossed his mind. "But, at least I'm not a test dummy."

"Test dummy?" Spike repeated, unsure of what that meant, but not liking the sound of it. "What the hay is a –"

"Wingardium Leviosa!" Harry cut him off, flicking his wand at the confused dragon.

"HEY!" Spike cried as he was lifted off his feet and into the air, flailing his arms and tail, trying to grab onto something to right himself. True, he'd been levitated by Twilight before, but she was usually much more gentle with the way she did it. "Alright, fine! I take it back!" He cried.

Harry just laughed and waved his wand up and down, causing Spike to lower and rise up in the air along with its motions. "Too late for that! Shouldn't you have seen something like this coming since you live with Twilight?"

"I get the point! Just put me down!"

"Think he's learned his lesson?" Harry asked the giggling unicorn.

Twilight's eyes twinkled in amusement. "Probably not, but you should put him down before he gets sick."

The boy nodded, cancelling his floating charm and letting Spike fall to the ground with a bump, earning a glare for his troubles. "Hey, watch it!" The dragon cried, nursing a sore rump after his little fall. "I've got enough bruises there!"

"Maybe you should think about that when you laugh at others," Harry shot back. "Don't throw stones if you live in a glass house!"

Spike tilted his head in confusion, reaching back to scratch his spines. "What?"

"If you can't take being laughed at, don't laugh at others," Twilight explained. "He's making a point, one you should pay close attention to."

"What are you talking about? I can take a joke!"

The unicorn raised an eyebrow, looking down sternly at the young dragon. "Really, now? I seem to remember you finding it hilarious when our friends and I stepped in the Poison Joke flowers, but you got upset when we teased you for looking too cute to be a dragon?"

"That's different!" He snapped angrily. "That's part of who I am!"

"And my horn is part of who I am," she replied calmly. "As is Rarity's mane, Pinkie Pie's humor, Fluttershy's soft voice, Rainbow Dash's skill in flying, and Applejack's size and strength. But you didn't have a problem laughing at us, did you?"

As he watched the dragon hang his head and nod, muttering an apology under his breath, Harry made a mental note to ask what these things Twilight had mentioned were. The way she said it, they sounded like names. If they were, then they were definitely the oddest names he'd ever heard.

To be fair, Twilight Sparkle was up there, so he really shouldn't be surprised. And Harry probably sounded like an odd name to them, so he didn't have much room to talk.

He'd just chalk it up to his current predicament and leave it at that.

"So, what happens now?" Harry asked awkwardly, drawing their attention once again.

Twilight thought for a moment, frowning when no clear answer came to her. "I'm not sure," she admitted grudgingly. "Personally, I'd like to study you and your version of magic a bit since I've never heard about humans before, but I don't want to keep you here against your will…"

"If it makes you feel any better, the two of you have given me a better reception here than I've been getting in my world," he tried with an uneasy smile.

"Well, at least there's that," Twilight smiled. "But, I'd like to at least have some idea on how we can help each other out."

"Why not write to Princess Celestia?" Spike put in. "She'll know what to do!"

"Uh, who is Princess Celestia?" Harry asked, completely lost at this point.

Spike just laughed, having forgotten that the newcomer would've had no prior knowledge of the Princess of Day. "She's one of the Princesses of Equestria, she's in charge of making the Sun rise and holds dominion over daytime."

"I see," he muttered hesitantly, not quite understanding the concept. "So… some… pony has to raise the Moon and hold dominion over the night, right?"

"That's right!" Twilight chirped happily. "Her little sister, Princess Luna, raises the Moon and reigns over the night."

"Makes sense, I suppose. And you think that Princess Celestia will help you figure out how to help me?"

The unicorn nodded once. "I'm sure! I'm her student, she trusts me with just about anything! I'm sure she can help us figure out a way!"

"No doubt," Spike agreed. "The Princess knows more about magic than anypony in Equestria!"

"Well, if you say so, I suppose," he said a bit unsurely. "I guess it couldn't hurt. Anything is better than sitting here, twiddling my thumbs."

Twilight nodded, turning to her ever-faithful assistant, who had already pulled out a quill and scroll of parchment. "Ready when you are, Twilight!" he said dutifully.

"Thanks, Spike. Dear Princess Celestia," she paused, making sure that she didn't go too fast for the young dragon. "Tonight, something amazing happened! A young boy who called himself a human stumbled out of my closet in the Ponyville Library. His appearance is rather strange, he has no coat or fur, save for a black mane, he walks on two legs and has forelimbs which he calls 'arms'. He claims that he came from another world, but, as I am unfamiliar with such magic, I felt that this was something that should be brought to your attention. Please send advice on how to proceed as soon as possible. Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle."

Spike's quill danced across the page at a rapid pace, scratching furiously against the parchment as he transcribed the last line of his friend's message. "Twi-light Spar-kle," he sounded out as he tried to make sure to follow those pesky spelling rules and not mix up letters as he sometimes did. "Got it!" he cried triumphantly, tossing the quill aside and rolling up the scroll. The tiny dragon took a deep breath and let out a small jet of green flame, incinerating the letter in his claws.

"What in Merlin's name are you doing?" Harry panicked as his information ticket literally went up in smoke before his eyes.

"Relax," Spike said, putting his claws up in a placating gesture. "That's how we send letters to the princess through magic. Take a look for yourself?" He then gestured to the trail of smoke that began winding its way up towards the open window, as if it had a life all its own, and shot out into the night, vanishing from sight. "When I burn magical scrolls, they appear before the Princess so she can read them and respond within min – ACK!"

A sharp pain in his stomach prevented the young dragon from finishing his sentence; he hunched over, clutching his belly, his face contorted in a manner that suggested that he was under a lot of discomfort, before letting loose a loud, firey belch. The flames that sprung forward from his mouth began to materialize into another magical scroll, this one, however, had a rather fancy seal attached to the tie.

"Wow, that was fast!" Twilight noted happily. It seemed that the Princess had taken her situation quite seriously. "What does it say, Spike?"

The little dragon groaned. "Gimme a second. She caught me off guard with that one," Spike snatched the scroll off the ground and unrolled it, muttering under his breath about how annoyingly uncomfortable it felt for him to receive letters, and began reading. "My faithful student, Twilight. Your rather unique situation comes as a surprise to both Luna and myself – Oh, wow! You got the attention of both Princesses, Harry!"

"Uh, that's great, I guess," the boy said unsurely. "What's the rest say?"

"Oh, right! Where was I? Ah, here! Many centuries have passed since the last encounter either of us had with a human, therefore, unfortunately, we do not have much information to give at this time. Please tell your new guest not to worry, as I will personally do everything within my power to search for clues on how to return him safely to his home world. In the meantime, you and Spike should show him around Ponyville and let him experience Equestrian life for himself and perhaps ask him a bit about his people if he's willing to discuss it. Please keep in touch with any new information you get, I will do the same. Signed, Princess Celestia."

Harry's shoulders slumped in dejection; he'd been hoping that this would be a quick fix. "So much for that," he grumped. "Looks like I'm stuck."

"It's not that bad here," the little dragon tried to assure him. "The ponies are really friendly once they get to know you. Plus, I'm sure the Princess will have an answer for you soon enough.

"Maybe. But with my luck, this will involve some ridiculous quest at the end, and I'll have to risk life and limb to go back and deal with everyone accusing me of something I didn't do!"

"I'm sure it won't be anything like that," Twilight tried to assure the boy, making a quick mental note that his choice of wording made it seem as if this were completely normal for him. She'd have to look more into that later. "Even on the off chance that it involved danger, we wouldn't make you go through it alone."

He wouldn't understand it for a long time, but, somehow, hearing this filled Harry with the same confidence he had when his friends resolved to help him protect the Philosopher's Stone from Voldemort, the same feeling of being part of a group as he felt whenever he put on his Quidditch robes and walked onto the pitch with his teammates.

"Thanks, Miss Sparkle," Harry said, smiling sincerely for the first time in days. "It means a lot to hear some – uh – pony say that."

The hooved librarian smiled brightly, both at her success in pulling her new friend out of his dismal state of mind and seeing a genuine smile on his face for the first time since he'd stumbled into her library. But, in the back of her mind, she couldn't help but draw connections between his annoyed grumbling and his sudden gratitude after she assured him that he wouldn't be alone.

She'd only known him for a half an hour at most, but Twilight could easily tell that something was very wrong with Harry Potter. Something she fully intended to find out, just as soon as she was sure he wouldn't pull a Rainbow Dash and flee at the first sign of questioning.

Better save that for later; Twilight could always figure it out once her new guest got comfortable with his surroundings and opened up a bit. For now, she'd let him have his privacy.

"Glad it helped!" She chirped happily, before raising a brow playfully. "And you can call me Twilight, Harry. There's no need to be so formal!"

"Sorry, habit," the human replied sheepishly. "I'm still making the connection between this being a library and me being a student."

Spike groaned in mock agitation. "Oh, _please_ don't put that image in my head!" he grinned at the light glare his sister-figure sent at him, but continued needling her nonetheless. "She's already bad enough when she goes into research mode, I don't want to imagine her in charge of a class!"

"You're hilarious," the unicorn deadpanned, turning her attention away from the snickering dragon and back to Harry, who tried in vain to hide a grin. "Oh, don't encourage him!" She begged. "He'll start thinking he's actually funny!"

Harry nodded his head understandingly. "Ah, well, I wouldn't want that."

"Hey! No taking her side! She's got enough mares around to help her tease me! You're the only sta – uh – guy around who will back me up!"

Twilight sighed and rolled her eyes at his dramatics. "I'm sure you'll get over it," she drawled.

"Easy for you to say," he scoffed. "You've got five other mares who love to tease me all the time for being too little or too nice to be a dragon."

"If it makes you feel any better, I still feel a bit dizzy from when I collided with you," Harry offered. "You bounced up like I barely touched you though!"

Just as the young wizard suspected, Spike perked up almost immediately when he realized that the boy was telling the truth. "Yeah, I did!" He crowed, flexing his arms to show off what little muscle was hidden beneath his scales. Harry and Twilight stifled laughs at the sight of the baby dragon trying to showcase himself. "Strength of a real dragon! Hear that Twilight?"

"I don't think there's anyone in Equestria who can't hear you, Spike," she teased.

"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up," he dismissed her with a yawn. "I'm beat, I'll see you guys in the morning."

"Goodnight, oh mighty dragon," Twilight giggled, leaning down to nuzzle her little assistant as he passed.

"Just you wait, Sparkle," he mumbled half-heartedly as he returned the gesture with a light hug before making his way over to his bead and flopping down onto it. Within seconds, the baby dragon was asleep.

"Wow," Harry laughed quietly at the sight of the snoring dragon. "He really is a baby, isn't he?"

The librarian unicorn nodded. "As much as he likes to pretend he's all big and bad, he's a little foal at heart."

"Well, he should make the most of it while he's young. It seems like you two are really close, almost like brother and sister, if I compare you to one of my friend's and his sister."

"That sounds about right," she laughed. "I don't know what I'll do when he does finally grow up."

"Like I said, just enjoy it while it lasts," Harry replied seriously. "You've no idea how much I envy the two of you; I can only wish that I had something like that."

Twilight did her best not to be too nosey, but this was now the third hint he'd given her about his life in his own world. She had to ask about this one. "Do you fight with your siblings?" she asked, sincere in her curiosity.

"No, I mean I wish I had a relationship like that with _some_ siblings of my own. I'm an only child."

She'd put her hoof right in her mouth. Twilight winced, mentally berating herself for making assumptions about her new guest. "I'm so sorry," she stammered. "I just thought –"

Harry waved her off. "It's fine. I should've been more clear." He paused his attempts to reassure him to stifle a yawn that managed to escape his lips; it had been a long, tiresome day in his world, and this new world ordeal was all the more exhausting.

"Looks like Spike isn't the only one who needs an early bedtime," Twilight giggled, drawing an eye roll from the raven-haired human.

"You go to a new world and tell me it's not draining," he shot back. "It's been a long day in both worlds, for me."

"Fair enough, I suppose. I have an extra bed, just give me a minute to bring it out."

"You don't have to, I can sleep on the floor." Harry replied. She'd been gracious enough not to call whatever authorities existed in this world the moment he stumbled into her home. He didn't want to burden her any more than he already had.

Twilight, however, would have none of it. "No, really, it's no trouble at all. It just takes a bit of magic and –"

"No, it's fine, I'd rather not burden you anymore than I already have."

"You haven't –"

"Besides, I've slept on the floor loads of times before. It's not big deal at all."

"No!" She snapped, putting her hoof down on the matter. Twilight strode forward, causing Harry to quickly backpedal into the very door he'd come out of. "Look! I can have that bed out here and ready in ten seconds flat! No one in this house, pony, dragon, human or otherwise, is sleeping on the floor! Got it?"

"Got it!" He squeaked, sufficiently cowed by the unicorn's glare.

Almost instantly, Twilight's glare disappeared and her typical, kind smile crossed her face again. "Great! Wait right there!" As the mare trotted off, Harry couldn't help but stare.

The wizard made a mental note never to be misfortunate enough to find himself in her cross airs when she was well and truly angry. Harry had seen that glare before; he'd seen his bushy haired, book loving friend punch out that utter ponce, Draco Malfoy, after giving that glare.

Harry didn't want to see what a unicorn with magical powers would do to him if he invited her wrath down upon him.

"See! Ten seconds flat!" Twilight proudly said, having pulled an extra bed from and setting it up while Harry busy trying to figure out how he'd gone from staring down a basilisk to cowering in fear of a purple unicorn's wrath. She paused a moment to chuckle as she recalled Rainbow Dash using the same line back when she first meet the cyan coated pegasus.

The human teen smiled uneasily and approached the bed, resisting the urge to cringe as an odd scent hit him. Of course, he should've expected this; it was a spare bed for a _pony_. He should've expected the faint scent of a pony's coat to linger, it was, after all, extremely unlikely that Twilight would bother using magic to completely remove the smell since it would seem natural to a typical guest in her home.

Plus, he had the distinct feeling that if he tried to decline her generosity again, she'd magically bind him to the bed for the night.

"Thanks, Miss Sparkle," he said, slipping back into his habit again.

Twilight rolled her eyes at him. "It's just Twilight," she repeated.

"Sorry, it's going to take a bit to get used to all… _this_," he replied with a gesture. "Used to being around teachers and all."

She just laughed and nodded as she turned to trot over to her own bed. Twilight paused for a moment to stifle a light yawn with a hoof, before climbing in. She might as well go to sleep now, there wasn't much point in trying to continue her reading now that her focus was elsewhere. With her curiosity now directed at Harry, she'd have to wait until morning to go into, as Spike called it, research mode.

"It's fine," she called back sleepily. "You'll adjust, I suppose. For now, just sleep. We'll straighten everything else out in the morning."

"Uh, sounds like a good plan," Harry said as sat down on his borrowed mattress and began pulling off his shoes and socks. He briefly considered whether or not it could be wrong for him to share a room with Twilight, but he quickly shook that thought off and slipped out of his robes. British propriety didn't really apply here.

Twilight was a pony, he was a human. They were two completely different species, hell, they were from two completely different cultures! If he went based off of their rules, going starkers was probably acceptable, even among members of the opposite sex, if Twilight and Spike were any indication.

As soon as he realized where that train of thought had taken him, Harry slapped a hand across his forehead and suppressed a groan. Why the hell was he actually pondering this?

The now mentally scarred teen quickly unbuttoned his shirt and hung it, along with his robes, on a bedpost, before pulling back the covers and sliding in. He sighed, ignoring the odd smell of pony, and relaxed as his body settled in and became accustomed to the comfort of the rarely used mattress.

"Goodnight, Harry," Twilight's mumbled call sounded from her side of the room.

Harry turned to glance at her, snickering as she turned over on her side and snuggled into her pillow like a young child. "Goodnight, Twilight," he replied as he closed his eyes and let sleep take him into its comforting darkness.

**Chapter End**

**Be sure to let me know what you liked or didn't. **


	2. Good Morning, Ponyville

**Disclaimer: ****I don't own the **_**Harry Potter **_**series or the **_**My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic**_** series or line of toys.**

**Chapter 2: Good Morning, Ponyville!**

"Wake up, Harry!" The young wizard stirred in his sleep as a familiar voice called out to him, pulling Harry out of his dream world. Sure, it was a weird dream, some strange dream about talking unicorns and snarky, baby dragons, but it was nice to dream about something other than his imminent death for once. He groaned and stubbornly turned over on his side, earning a round of giggles from whoever was trying to make him leave the comfort of his nice, soft bed and begin the day. "Come on, sleepy! You can't stay in bed all day!"

At this point, Harry's mind finally managed to piece together that it was a girl trying to rouse him out of his sleep; with his luck, it was Hermione, the one person in this bloody castle who was more stubborn than he.

"Leave me alone, Hermione," he mumbled into his pillow. "I'm tired!"

A momentary pause gave Harry a bit of hope; perhaps she was feeling merciful today! Maybe, for once in the hectic mess he called a life, he'd actually get to just relax and sleep in like a normal teen.

Obviously, Harry needed a reminder of who he was.

"Harry… It's Twilight. Twilight Sparkle, remember?" Twilight? Who in Merlin's name was Twilight? Wasn't that the same name of that talking unicorn in his dream?

…

Harry's eyes snapped open, he began searching around for his glasses, frantically reaching with his hands and trying to make out the blurry shape of his old, black frames. To his surprise, his vision suddenly cleared up as his glasses were set in place by some strange magenta tinged energy field.

With his vision now clear, Harry turned to face the source of the voice and was met with the sight of the same purple unicorn he'd seen in his dreams…

Or was it a dream? She was here, standing before him and giving him a rather amused look as he struggled to comprehend her presence. No, she was no dream, no figment of his imagination; Twilight Sparkle was quite real.

The teen struggled to vocalize his thoughts, working his mouth wordlessly before finally rediscovering how to speak. "You're… real?"

To her credit, Twilight just rolled her eyes and laughed, not in the least bit offended that he was still struggling to come to terms with her existence. "Yes, I'm quite real! "Remember? We talked about this last night and then you tried to argue that I didn't have to pull out this bed for you… " The mare trailed off and gestured for him to finish with her hoof and gave him an expecting look.

"And you made me sleep in it instead of the floor," he finished, before adding an afterthought. "And then you boasted about it only taking ten seconds."

"Well, I wouldn't say that was the most important detail, but yes, I suppose I did!" Twilight paused a moment to think, covering her lips with a hoof to restrain a giggle. "Just don't tell Rainbow Dash that I borrowed her line or she'll try to convert me!"

"Rainbow what now?"

"Oh, right! You haven't met her yet! She's a pegasus, one of my best friends; I'll introduce you to her sometime today!"

"R – Right. A pegasus," he stuttered uneasily as he sat up and tossed the covers off. He snatched his shirt off the bedpost and threw it over his shoulders, fastening the buttons carefully, so he didn't end up mismatching them.

"Does your species always wear clothes?" Twilight asked curiously. "Sorry, but I haven't seen anypony wearing them so often, even Rarity only wears dresses for special occasions."

"All the time," he replied, cheeks heating up a bit. "Who is Rarity, exactly?"

"Oh, sorry. That's another of my friends you'll have to meet. But first," she trailed off to look over at the slumbering form of her draconic assistant and giggled as he drooled into his pillow. "It's time for a certain baby dragon to wake up."

Spike slept on, unaware that he was about to be roused from his dream world by his big sister figure. Harry sighed and rolled out of bed and began putting his clothes back on, watching with no shortage of amusement as Twilight prodded the sleeping dragon with her hooves.

"Time to wake up," she whispered softly. Spike groaned and turned over in his bed.

"Five more minutes, mommy," he muttered sleepily.

The unicorn librarian stifled a laugh and continued poking him with her hoof, but he didn't move. "Being difficult this morning, are we?" She asked teasingly. "Alright, then, I guess I'll just have to take _this_!"

Twilight's horn flashed magenta with magic and the little dragon's blanket was ripped from his grasp and into the air, just out of his reach. She gave a wink to Harry, fully expecting her little assistant to leap to his feet and demand she give his precious blanket back and let him, a poor, innocent baby dragon, sleep.

Spike had other plans. He was used to Twilight's attempts to wake him up after years of dealing with her in the morning. Sure, he knew that she'd keep at it until she got her way, but today he was feeling lucky. Today, he was sleeping in, even if he had to curl up into a little ball to keep warm.

After living with Twilight for literally his entire life, he should've known better than to think such an idea would actually work.

Instead of prodding him again, Twilight placed her hoof on his stomach and slowly moved it about in a circle, lightly teasing his scales with the sensation. Spike tried to flinch away from her, only managing to push his body up against the side of her bedpost.

"You'd better get up, Spike," she warned as she gave him a quick poke to the ribs, eliciting a squeak from her assistant. Seeing that he still wouldn't get up, Twilight decided to punish his defiance with a full-scale assault.

Spike was helpless! He squirmed and fought against it, but couldn't escape Twilight's teasing hoof. The tiny dragon sputtered and laughed, pulled from his blissful sleep by his traitorous body's ticklishness.

"C-CUT IT OUT!" He cried through his laughter. "T-TWILIGHT!"

"You should've gotten up when I first called," the unicorn teased, moving her hoof to the center of his belly and quickly brushing it along his scales. Spike gasped in surprise, letting loose a bout of giggles as the torture continued.

Harry shook his head as he watched the unicorn tickle her little dragon brother; he threw his robe over his shoulders and pulled his arms through the sleeves. Truth be told, he lied when he told Twilight that he'd come to terms with it, that he'd accepted that he was an only child.

He wasn't. He couldn't help but feel a swell of pain in his chest, the pain of loneliness. This sort of interaction was something he craved when he was younger.

Something he was denied.

Yet, at the same time, Harry felt a bit happy for them. These two didn't have to know the same feeling he did, they were innocent in that matter. Twilight and Spike were different species, but they got along better than most human siblings.

More than he could say for the way the wizards in his world treated other magical creatures; those who were classified as having "near human" intelligence by several of the Care of Magical Creatures and Defense Against the Dark Arts textbooks, as if suggesting that humans were superior in nature.

True, humans had made significant advancements in technology and ideology, but they were by no means the strongest or fastest creature on Earth, their edge lay in their intelligence.

Here, that wasn't true. In this new world of Equestria, ponies and dragons were, if the pair before him was any indication, capable of rational and intelligent thought.

Turning his attention back to his current source of entertainment, Harry found that Spike, in a moment of brilliance, had managed to roll himself out of bed and to his feet, escaping from Twilight's hooves and managing to put some distance between himself and the giggling librarian.

Spike leveled a light glare at Twilight and grumbled. "For once, just once, I wish you'd let me sleep in!"

"And I wish that for once, just once, that you'd get up without me having to drag you out of bed," Twilight retorted. "But, then you wouldn't be you, I suppose."

Evidently, this was a common occurrence in the living quarters above the Ponyville Library.

Harry just watched as the two bantered, awkwardly rubbing his arm and looking around, trying to look as if he weren't just staring at the scene before him. As he surveyed the room around him, he had the feeling that he was wrong last night when he noticed just a base similarity between Twilight's personality and Hermione's.

The obscenely large bookshelf, stacked to the brim with thick texts, served to affirm that this _was_ the room of Hermione's equine counterpart. From the towering bookcase to the stacks of books sitting next to the neatly organized desk, it truly seemed as though this were a place that she would've loved to visit.

Hell, even the way Twilight had organized the desk spoke of an almost obsessive attention to detail, not a pen nor scrap of paper was out of place!

Just as he took notice of the almost identical obsessive attention to detail, Harry's heart sank. As obvious as it should have been when he woke up face to snout with a unicorn, as much as he should have felt this cold, sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach as soon as that realization hit him, only now did the full weight of his situation come crashing down upon him.

He was alone in a strange world. No friends, no Hedwig, no human contact. Here, _he_ was the intruder. He was the alien.

How long would it take for this new land, Equestria, to become like the Wizarding World in that regard? Would they gawk at him like some sort of animal on display for a little while because he was different? How long before that curiosity became suspicion? How long before he became the scapegoat?

How long before he had to hide himself from disapproving glares again?

The young wizard shook himself from that line of thought; that wasn't something he wanted to think about right now. Besides, pegging an entire race as being judgmental when he'd been trying to escape just that was quite hypocritical of him.

A low growl from his stomach brought the happy scene before him to a halt, much to Harry's embarrassment. "Sorry," he chuckled sheepishly. "I haven't eaten anything since midday yesterday."

"This guy's speaking my language!" Spike cried with a grin, leaping to his feet and running downstairs.

"You don't even know what he wants, Spike!" Twilight called after him, facehoofing in annoyance as the tiny dragon continued on his way. "Honestly! Sometimes I wonder if that dragon thinks with his stomach!"

"I have a friend just like him," Harry chuckled. "He practically dives face first into his food. We're all afraid that we'll lose a limb if we reach for something."

"I guess there's always one," she sighed. "Well, come on, the kitchen is downstairs. What do you eat, Harry? Hayfries? Dandelion sandwiches?"

The young wizard did his very best not to blanch at the mention of Equestrian delicacies. Hay? Weeds? What in Merlin's name was with these ponies?

Then again, horses in his world were herbivores, so it really shouldn't surprise him. But still… Yuck!

"Er… no," he said hesitantly, carefully choosing his words. "Humans don't really eat hay or dandelions."

"Well, what do you eat then?"

"Do you have bacon and eggs?" He asked, instinctively thinking of a typical English style breakfast.

Twilight cocked her head to the side in confusion at the unfamiliar term. "Bacon? I could bake you some eggs, if that's what you're asking."

Harry resisted the urge to slap himself. Ponies were herbivores; he'd already covered this. They would _never_ think of cannibalizing another species. The idea was probably horrifying to them. "Never mind. How about toast? Or English muffins?"

"There should be some bread in the pantry, I could have Spike toast it with a bit of dragon fire."

"I'll have that then. Just stick with something a bit basic for now."

"That would probably be a safe bet," she admitted. "Food in your world is different, right?"

The teenage wizard chuckled. "Very."

"Well, what kinds of foods do you eat?" Twilight asked, summoning a quill and notepad with a quick burst of telekinesis. "I'd love to learn about your culture! It's not every day I get to study a new species!"

"Err, right," he stammered hesitantly. Her intense look, that same excited look he'd seen on Hermione's face whenever a new topic for her to research came up, made him fit a bit uneasy.

The portion of Princess Celestia's message about studying him finally made sense; Twilight wasn't just a student in magic, she was a researcher, a scientist, as well.

And he was the research subject. Somehow, he had a feeling that things were going to get a bit… awkward. There were just too many odd questions that the studious mare could bring up, probably more than he could even imagine. And, if she were as similar to Hermione as he thought, Twilight wouldn't let up until she'd pulled enough information out of him to write her own book on the subject.

With that in mind, Harry decided that it would be best to submit to her whims and answer. Better to get this over with than to suffer through whatever interrogative methods she might have.

Harry _really_ didn't want to be on the wrong end of that horn…

"Well, we don't eat weeds or flowers. Mostly vegetables, fruits, nuts and… err…" Oops.

"Vegetables, fruits and nuts," Twilight muttered as she furiously wrote down his every word. "_Not_ vegetation. And what else?"

How exactly do you explain eating meat to a herbivore?

Trick question. You don't.

"Uh, sweets!" He cried, trying desperately to cover his slipup. "We eat _loads_ of sweets! Baked goods and everything!"

Fortunately for Harry, Twilight was too preoccupied with writing down every word his said to catch his mistake. "Sounds like you'd get along with my friend, Pinkie," she noted happily. "She works in a bakery in town."

"I'll have to visit sometime," he agreed, sticking to his story as he descended the stairs and followed her to the kitchen. As soon as he reached the bottom, Harry stopped short, staring in slight awe at the sheer number of books that lined the circular bookshelves of Ponyville Library.

Hogwarts might have had the most extensive magical library in Europe, but it lacked the near obsessive, compulsive organization and upkeep of this, Twilight's pride and joy.

Ponyville Library was much smaller, but its dedicated librarian had more than made up for the lack of size in the way she maintained it. Not a book was out of place, not a shelf left undusted or properly stacked, it was, for lack of better term, immaculate.

"Wow," he muttered, unable to think of anything else, all words failed him at this point. Even he had to marvel at the sheer number of books that lined the walls, that surrounded the entire room, reaching up to the ceiling, that made up the dominion of the unicorn and her draconic assistant.

Twilight, of course, assumed that he was simply impressed and surprised with the extensiveness of her collection, thinking that she'd found a kindred spirit in her love for studying. "It really is a sight, isn't it?" she asked wistfully. "When I first came from Canterlot, I couldn't believe that this library in such a tiny town was so well stocked with so many interesting books."

"Right," he shakily agreed. "How exactly do the two of you maintain it so well? I mean it's only you two!"

"Oh, it's really quite easy with my magic and Spike's help! He's my number one assistant for a reason, you know!"

"I guess, but…"

"Don't overthink it," she laughed. "I know it seems like a lot for just the two of us to take care of, but he's a very capable dragon, even if he is a baby –"

"You mean the same baby who's making your breakfast?" A familiar voice called out from one of the doorway arches. Spike poked his purple-scaled head out and gave his surrogate sister a mock annoyed look. "The same one who could easily let his claws _slip_ and throw a few peppers on your sandwich?"

Twilight simply quirked an eyebrow and smirked, a fresh retort already on her tongue. "Yes, the very same _baby_ dragon who's gong to be quite upset if he messes with my sandwich… once he realizes that his 'secret stash' of gems has been misplaced."

Spike's eyes widened in horror as he shut his mouth with an audible 'click'; evidently, his collection of gems was quite important to him, a fact that Twilight had exploited with a thinly veiled threat the likes of which only an older sister used to show their misguided younger brother that she had far more ammunition to unload.

Big sister: one. Little brother: zero.

"I'll be good!" Spike squeaked, ducking back into the kitchen to escape Twilight's almighty smirk-raised eyebrow combo.

The purple mare raised a hoof to stifle a bout of giggles, shooting Harry a wink. "Works every time!"

Harry didn't want to pry, but he just couldn't help asking. His curiosity demanded an explanation. "Why does he have a gem stash?"

"He eats them," she said casually, much in the same tone one would use to describe the weather.

"He _what_?!"

"Oh! Do dragons in your world not eat gems?"

"Er… no," he said awkwardly. "They only eat… meat in my world."

Twilight thought for a moment before giving her reply. "Well, most dragons are carnivores in Equestria, but they do eat gems as well. Spike's a bit different; his diet is mostly vegetarian with the occasional gem to go with a meal."

Even if he wasn't as obsessed with learning as Hermione, Harry had to admit that was quite interesting. Of all the things he didn't expect, finding out that dragons ate _gems_ was definitely among them.

Though, to be quite honest, it did reassure him that he didn't have to worry about waking up in the middle of the night with a hungry drake standing over him.

Harry had so many questions to ask, so little of this made any sense to him, but he just sighed and decided to roll with the punches, so to speak. He was in another world, one in which ponies and dragons spoke, unicorns used magic and, apparently, dragons ate priceless stones.

At this point, he wasn't sure he _wanted_ to hear the answers. Perhaps it was best if he waited until he was more accustomed to all of… this... before delving any deeper.

Twilight waved a hoof in front of his face to get his attention. "Harry!" She called. "Equestria to Harry!"

"Huh?" He mumbled, blinking rapidly as his train of thought was cut off. "What?"

"You drifted off a bit," she said with a small grin. "You're not going to make a habit of that every time we tell you something new, are you?"

The teen could only rub the side of his arm in embarrassment. "Hopefully not," he replied sheepishly.

"See to it that it doesn't, mister," Twilight said, adopting a mock stern expression. "I can be quite creative in my methods of getting a pony's – well, in your case human's – attention.

"I believe it," he mumbled, her rather unique method of waking Spike up still fresh in his mind. Somehow, he didn't relish the prospect of being subjected to her version of a wakeup call.

The purple-coated mare's grin widened at the look of discomfort on her new friend's face. Twilight was normally a nice pony, more concerned with studying than acting the part of a little foal, but that didn't mean that she didn't get in on some of the shenanigans that her friends came up with.

A certain hat with a multicolored umbrella mounted on top showed clear dedication to the mystical alarm system that was the "Pinkie Sense".

Besides, this all served a very important purpose: a bit of fun might distract Harry from his worries and allow him to relax and adjust himself to his new life in Equestria, even if it were only to be a temporary one.

The fact that she wanted to study human reactions to a bit of mild teasing had nothing to do with it. Nothing. At all.

Ok, maybe a little.

With her goal in mind, Twilight flashed a rather mischievous smirk at the human boy. "You got a pass this morning, but next time I won't be so forgiving if you oversleep."

She had to stifle a laugh at the way his face paled as he considered the endless possibilities of ways she could wake him, each of them more unpleasant than the last.

Sometimes, even Twilight Sparkle couldn't resist poking a bit of fun at her friends.

Harry gave a weak grin, stuttering assurances that it wouldn't happen again, that he'd make sure he didn't sleep in or space out in the middle of a conversation; really, it only served to further the mare's amusement and cement the fact that he was just too easy to tease.

Her friends would have a field day with Ponyville's newest resident.

With one final amused shake over her head, Twilight lead the nervous boy into the kitchen, where Spike had already finished preparing a dandelion sandwich and a small bowl of gemstones.

"How many slices do you want, Harry?" the young drake called over his shoulder as he pulled a third plate down from the cupboard.

Harry stifled a laugh at the sight of the tiny dragon balancing himself on a stool, trying to reach a plate. Really, _this_ wasn't something he'd expect to find a dragon doing in any world. Taking pity on his scaly friend, Harry muttered a quick levitating charm to carefully lift a single plate out of the cupboard and lower it into Spike's waiting claws.

"I'll just have one, thank you," he said politely.

Two sets of eyes gave him a look of disbelief. "You're kidding, right?" Spike deadpanned. "That's not even enough for me!" Even though she disapproved of her de facto brother's bluntness, Twilight gave a nod of agreement. A single slice of toast was most certainly _not_ a healthy breakfast.

Despite their protests, Harry just shrugged. "When I get nervous, I tend to eat very little, if anything at all."

Grudgingly, the duo had to admit that his excuse did make some sense. The boy might be a bit more comfortable with the two of them; he was still coming to terms with his predicament. He wasn't just in a new town, he was a in a completely different world! He'd been ripped from everything he knew, everything he was comfortable with, and been dropped in the middle of a world that was practically the polar opposite of everything he'd encountered.

Nervous probably didn't even begin to cover how he was feeling.

Spike shared a look with Twilight, who sighed in defeat and motioned for him to give into their guest's request. He grumbled something about the lack of proper nutrition and poor diet, a habit he'd picked up from living with a studious sister his entire life, and grabbed a slice of bread to make toast.

A quick burst of dragonfire, unintentionally hotter than normal due to his dissatisfaction with Harry's diet, was all it took to toast the fluffy, white bread to a crisp.

If anything, Spike would take solace in the fact that Twilight wouldn't let this become commonplace for the duration of Harry's stay. Oh no. He knew full well that Twilight had only given in today because she didn't want to push Harry too much on his first full day in Ponyville. If the young human tried this again tomorrow, he'd be in for a big surprise.

And he planned to back his sister in all but blood on this issue. Harry was new, but that didn't make him any less of a guest and friend.

Spike might be young, but he didn't let his friends down, even if he had to go against their wishes to help. It was part of his Dragon Code, his own set of rules he lived by. It might be a petty issue, but he wasn't going to let one of his friends become unhealthy because of some poor eating habits.

He'd read enough health science books with Twilight to know the value of proper nutrition.

Fixing a smile in place, he placed the toasted slice on a plate and held it out to the messy haired human, who accepted it gratefully, returning the drake's smile with an awkward grin of his own. "Do you have any jam?" he asked meekly.

"Sure, what kind do you want? Grape or strawberry?"

"Either works, I'm not picky." Eleven years of eating only the minimal amount acceptable had essentially made Harry take a rather simple mindset towards food: if it was edible, he ate it. Being picky just meant he had less food to eat.

Of course, Spike had no idea about this portion of Harry's past, so he just assumed that the boy didn't have much of a preference between the two. He shrugged and handed over a jar of strawberry jam before grabbing his bowl and claiming his seat at the table.

As he munched on a small gemstone, Spike watched as Harry quickly spread some jam over his toast and wolfed it down, as if he hadn't eaten in days. The tiny drake raised a brow and shot a look at Twilight, who seemed to share his own thoughts if her narrowed eyes were anything to go by.

In terms of draconic growth, Spike was only a baby, but he was no idiot. Harry's actions directly contradicted his claim; the boy was obviously very hungry, but felt uncomfortable asking for more than his meager share.

Something wasn't adding up. Spike hated it when things didn't add up; it was another peeve he picked up from Twilight. Based on the single nod he received from his sister, Spike could tell that she wasn't planning to let this go. Harry might get a pass from a bit of questioning now, but she obviously intended to find out more about their mysterious guest.

Harry, oblivious to the silent conversation taking place just across the table, spoke up after swallowing the last bit of his toast. "So, how are we going to go about dealing with… well, me being here?"

The purple-coated mare sighed. "Honestly? I'm not exactly sure myself. I don't want to cause mass panic, but we can't just hide you in here! This _is_ a public library –"

"Even if nopony else really comes here!" Spike chipped in cheekily. His teasing grin turned into a squeak of fear at the glare he received, shrinking back into his seat as if he somehow hoped he could press himself through the wood to escape his sister's heated gaze.

"Like I was saying," Twilight ground out. "Hiding here won't work."

"Well, I can't exactly waltz out into town, can I? You said it yourself, we don't want to cause mass panic!"

"No, but it'll only get worse if I try to hide you… especially if my friends come calling."

Here, Harry quirked a brow at the way the unicorn before him shifted when mentioning her friends. "Can't keep a secret from them?" He asked, smiling knowingly.

"You have _no_ idea!" She groaned, lightly bumping her head down on the table. "I'm horrible at lying to them as is, I can hardly keep a secret from them! And don't even get me started on Pinkie Pie!"

"Especially if it's something involving a new pony – err, human – in town who she can throw a surprise 'Welcome to Ponyville' party!" Spike added.

That did nothing to help her mood. "Oh, great! She's probably already gotten the twitchy tail, or whatever ridiculous signal her 'Pinkie Sense' gives her that means 'time to throw a party'!"

"Well, we could always just take him into town and get it over with, you know? If he's with us, it won't be as bad as Zecora or Princess Luna on Nightmare Night!"

'_Nightmare Night'_? Now that sounded interesting. What was that supposed to be, the equine version of Halloween? Of course, with Harry's luck, his near traditional annual disaster would still persist, falling on Nightmare Night instead of Halloween.

That is, if he was stuck here long enough.

"Well, what about just taking him to Mayor Mare? Maybe she can help!" Spike's voice cut through his momentary lapse in focus. All other thoughts stopped in their tracks as he his mind caught up with what he'd just heard.

_Mayor_ _Mare_?! No. No way. There was just no way…

Badly suppressing a snicker, Harry cut in. "I'm sorry, did you just (snort) say 'Mayor Mare'?"

The boy bit his lip, his cheeks puffed out with the laughter he only just barely was able to withhold. First, _Canterlot_ instead of Camelot and now Mayor _bloody_ Mare!

Too easy. It was just too easy.

"Harry?" Twilight called, a bit concerned with how red his face was turning and the way his shoulders seemed to be shaking, as though he were having trouble containing himself. "Are you alright?"

He nodded, a small snort of laughter escaped as he tried desperately to regain control of himself before he opened his mouth. "I'm… fine!" He let out. "Just… fine!"

His unicorn friend wasn't fully convinced. "Are you sure? Did you swallow a bite too big or something?"

Perfect! "Y-Yes," he ground out, straining to disguise his chortles as coughs. Maybe this wouldn't be so easy, after all. "Just (snort)… just ate a bit too fast! It'll… It'll pass!"

To add to the effect, Harry pounded a fist to his chest, giving the appearance of trying to dislodge whatever was stopping him from breathing properly. Thankfully, Twilight and Spike were rather trusting and truly believed that he'd just eaten too fast and swallowed down the wrong pipe, so to speak.

If their earlier banter was anything to go by, Harry didn't think they'd react _too_ badly to him having a bit of a laugh at the cultural differences, but he didn't want to test those waters too early.

As annoyed as the students from France and Bulgaria were at the miscommunications and unintended cultural slights, despite the fact that the Hogwarts staff and tournament officials had tried to adapt to their visitors, Harry could just _feel_ that he was going to have to watch what he said or did lest he step on some toes…

Well, hooves, actually.

Once he'd managed to get himself back under control, Harry took a deep, calming breath, and turned his gaze back on the pair before him. "You were saying?"

Spike quirked an eyebrow at him, but answered nonetheless. "Mayor Mare, we could take you to see her or bring her here to see you and figure out a way to introduce you to the town without causing panic."

"Would it really be that bad?"

"Yes," Both Twilight and Spike said in unison, the memory of Zecora's treatment prior to her formal introduction fresh in their minds.

"Really? So bad that you have to alert the highest authority in town? Don't you think putting the Princesses on high alert last night was enough?"

Twilight smiled and shook her head. His innocence on the matter was actually quite endearing. In his mind, they'd already alerted the highest of high authorities, anything else was only inconveniencing those around him.

Somehow, she was certain that this was going to become a pattern with the raven-haired human.

"Normally, yes," she admitted. "But the citizens of Ponyville can be a bit… skittish around things they aren't familiar with." A confused look from her friend urged her to explain in more detail. "You have to understand, ponies are normally very tolerant of other races, but Ponyville is a very small town, very old fashioned in many ways. Sometimes, they can be a bit superstitious and fearful."

Now, _that_ was familiar. "Say no more!" He surrendered. "I know exactly what you mean!" Hopefully, that superstition didn't also come with a tendency to make scapegoats. "So… the Mayor, then?"

"If she's available, yes," the mare replied as she rose from her seat. "Spike, do you mind -?"

Spike waved her off, hopping down from his chair and making his way to the sink. "I'll take care of the library for the day, you give the crazy, magical human the grand tour."

"Remember that when I've stuck you to the ceiling," Harry called over his shoulder as he followed Twilight out the door. "Try not to burn this place down!"

"Try not to fall out of any closets!"

Damn. Baby dragon: one. Teenage human: zero.

"Knock it off, you two," Twilight chided as she summoned a book. "Harry, just give me a minute to find an anti-detection spell and we'll be off."

Even though he wasn't as studious as the mare before him, Harry's interest was peaked. "How exactly does an anti-detection spell work?"

"Well, it's supposed to make it so ponies don't notice you. Princess Celestia once described it to me as perception filtering; the mind doesn't see you as long as you don't draw attention to yourself."

Interesting. "So, as long as I don't start shouting and waving my arms, no one will notice me?"

"No _pony_," she corrected absentmindedly. "Will notice you."

Had Twilight turned to face him, she would've caught the poor attempt to hide a goofy smile behind the palm of his hand and the way his shoulders shook with suppressed laughter as he turned his back on her and made his way over to what he presumed was the front door of the Library.

He was really going to have to get used to the blatant horse puns or he'd die laughing.

The boy stopped short and leaned against the wall as he watched Twilight search through the book, muttering and shaking her head every now and again, with a look of utmost concentration etched across her face.

"Color changing spell… levitation… silencing… cleaning… teleportation… Darn! Not in this book!" she sighed, floating the book in question back to its spot on the shelf and summoning another. "Let's see, shape shifting? Probably not, we want him inconspicuous, not a teapot…"

A look of utter horror worked its way across Harry's face! Yes, hopefully she'd find that anti-detection, perception filter spell before she gave up and resorted to turning him into a pair of bloody horseshoes and _wearing_ him around town.

Through the haze of racing thoughts and embarrassing scenarios, Harry heard someone… err… some_pony_ knock at the door.

Before we continue, it's important to observe Harry's train of thought at this point: there was none. His mind was still coming to grips with the mere possibility of becoming a bit of transfigured… something! That being said, this momentary lapse in focus, this ever so brief moment of brain dead stupidity, might explain this next course of action.

More out of habit, a product of living with the Dursleys and being their personal maid in all but name, Harry absentmindedly turned to open the door and greet whoever had come to call on the rather distracted librarian.

Of all the ponies he could've come face to face with, this was quite possibly the absolute _last_ pony Twilight would've wanted him to meet had she been paying full attention. Not due to any sort of personal aversion, but simply for the sake discretion.

Emerald green eyes met sky blue, both sets blinking in surprise as the shock registered with their minds. One's owner grew excited, the other's only grew more surprised and confused.

Pink. That was all Harry could really think of at this point in time. Pink. Other than its eyes, this pony was, from perky tail to fluffy, curly mane, pink. Her coat was, admittedly, a slightly lighter shade than her tail or mane, but the point remained.

This pony so completely pink that Harry could practically feel a sugar rush coming on just by looking at her.

As Harry returned his gaze to her face, he noticed that her mouth, which had opened in shock, was beginning to twitch upwards, curving into a face-splitting grin.

Figuring that she was here to visit Twilight, Harry passed it off as her being happy that someone answered and greeted her. "Er, hi," he said lamely. "Here to see Twilight?"

Almost instantly after he finished speaking, the pony let out a loud, exaggerated gasp and leapt into the air, before suddenly turning tail and galloping away as fast as her legs could carry her!

"No! Wait!" Harry cried, reaching out as if to somehow grab the mare, who was now no more than a slowly receding dot and a trail of dust. "Damn it!" he cursed angrily. So much for discretion.

Before he could further verbalize his displeasure, Harry felt the now familiar sensation of Twilight's magic wrapping around him as she telekinetically jerked him back inside and slammed the door shut. "Harry! The whole point of this spell is for you to stay unnoticed until we talk to the Mayor!" she chided.

He let his shoulders drop, heaving a sigh of resignation as he did so. "There's no point now," he grumbled. "Somepony already saw me."

Harry never saw her move; he didn't even see so much as a muscle on her body twitch. One moment, Twilight was giving him a stern look, all four hooves were on the ground, the next, his face was being held mere inches from her own by her forehooves, her eyes widened in panic.

"Which pony?" she demanded. "Give me a description!"

"P-pink!" He stammered, quite startled by the sudden shift in his friend's demeanor. "Her coat, tail and mane were all pink! Sort of fluffy and perky looking! She had blue eyes!"

Twilight groaned and released the human teen, who was suddenly reacquainted with gravity as he dropped face first to the floor. "Of all the ponies, it just _had_ to be her!"

Muttering curses under his breath and rubbing his forehead, Harry pushed himself up into a sitting position, giving the panicking unicorn a look of confusion. "What's wrong? Do you not get along with her or something?"

"Quite the opposite," she sighed as she massaged her temples with her hooves. "_That_ was my friend, Pinkie Pie."

"Pinkie Pie?" He deadpanned. "Her parents named her _Pinkie_?"

"Well, yes, that's actually common," she said, still not fully catching the tone of disbelief in his voice. "You'll find that many ponies' names have something to do with their appearance, jobs or talents."

"Right. Of course." _I guess that makes me 'Scruffy Hair' then, he noted sardonically._ "So, what exactly is the problem with Pinkie Pie knowing about me?"

With a sigh, Twilight closed her books, telekinetically reorganizing and replacing them back onto their appropriate shelves. "It's not so much a problem as it is a change in the plan. If Pinkie knows you're here, subtlety is pretty much a waste of time; everypony will know that you're here, that you're vastly different from us."

Harry couldn't help but feel a bit overwhelmed with this information. Talking to a mayor, even if she had a ridiculous, blatant pun for a name, and trying to calmly come up with a solution to his inexplicable presence was much more appealing to him than some pink ball of energy galloping through town, shouting at the top of her lungs about the strange new creature that had taken up residence in the local library.

"So, I'm sunk then," he grumbled.

"Not necessarily," his head snapped up as he gazed in confusion at the mare before him, who now sported a rather sheepish look. "I should explain: Pinkie might be a bit… excitable, but I seriously doubt she went running into town to whip everypony into a mob. Actually, it's the opposite. Remember what Spike and I said about her at breakfast?"

Thinking back, Harry did, vaguely, recall her mentioning somepony (this was going to take some getting used to) having a "Pinkie Sense" and something about it being time to… No.

"You're joking."

The look Twilight gave him was one of utmost seriousness. "Harry, if there's one thing that Pinkie takes seriously, it's parties. And, since you're new to Ponyville, even if you're human, you're going to be the guest of honor at your very own 'Welcome to Ponyville Surprise Party'."

**LINE BREAK**

Harry barely registered Twilight pushing him out the door and into the open air of Ponyville, he barely heard her exchange goodbyes with Spike, only absentmindedly mumbling his own farewell to the laughing drake as he allowed himself to be pushed (and even prodded once with the horn to wake him from his stupor) along the path and into town.

This didn't make any sense whatsoever. By all rights, that pony, Pinkie Pie, or whatever he name was, should've gone screaming into town about him. There should be an angry mob assembled on Twilight's front lawn, demanding that she bring him so they could either turn him in to the guards or lynch him.

Not that he had any complaints about the lack of mob, guards or noose. No, that he could do without.

But still, a party? For him? This just didn't seem right at all. Pinkie didn't even know what he was, let alone know anything about him! That, however, was irrelevant, according to Twilight; if there was a newcomer in town, Pinkie took it upon herself to make sure that pony – or, in this case, human – was welcomed with the party to end all parties.

To Harry Potter, it just didn't compute. He was used to people blatantly staring, whispering rumors and such as he walked past them in the halls, each one more outlandish than the last.

When he finally rejoined Twilight in reality, Harry discovered two things.

The first was that Ponyville appeared to be a small, old world town, very rustic in its charm, with the influence of nature and tradition made plainly obvious, even to a newcomer such as him. To see a race living together in such a manner, interacting, greeting one another by name, it was a beautiful thing. The natural beauty of his surroundings was captivating as well; lush green grass, clear blue sky, and tall, mighty trees looming in the distance.

The second was the sight of a bunch of multicolored ponies, the very same ones who'd been happily going about their day, stopping abruptly and staring at him. But this wasn't the typical staring he was used to, there wasn't much suspicion or hero worship evident in the eyes of the population of Ponyville.

Their stares seemed to be a mix of surprise, slight uncertainty and interest. One or two of them even tried giving an uneasy smile, waving with their hooves in an attempt to at least seem somewhat neighborly. Harry returned the gesture, raising a hand and giving his own wave, waggling his fingers as he did so, much to the shock and interest of everypony present.

Whatever spell of silence had been cast upon the area was broken, as each pony began openly whispering to one another.

"Is that what Pinkie was talking about?"

"Obviously! He's the only other two legged thing in Ponyville besides Spike!"

"What in Celestia's name are those things he waved with?"

"How in the hay should I know? Oh, Bon Bon! Where's that roommate of yours when we need her?"

"Out of town, Berry! She won't be back until next week!"

"Ha! Figures that Lyra would be missing when she finally got proven right! Sure sucks to be her!"

"_Vinyl Scratch_! Must you be so rude?"

"Hmm, I wonder if he likes muffins… "

Harry simply watched in shock; these ponies, they weren't all that different from humans at all! Perhaps they were a bit more peaceful, and certainly reacted better to him than humans would to them, but still, the similarities were evident.

"Well, this is something I'm used to," he muttered, more to himself than anything. Looks like he'd be the subject of staring after all.

Twilight, however, managed to catch part of it. "Used to what?"

_Oops._ "The stares and whispers," Harry grudgingly admitted. "I get that a lot where I'm from." A raised brow from his equine companion prompted a bit of explanation. "I'm… different, even among my people, so I get a lot of unwanted attention."

"I see," Twilight said after a moment's pause. "Does it bother you? All of this?" She jerked her head to her right, indicating a grey coated, wall eyed pegasus mare, who had turned to her brown coated friend and started an in depth discussion about how something 'human shaped' could possibly be in a universe with the form was clearly 'pony shaped'.

Even to for a world full of talking ponies, that was strange.

As his mind finally rejoined his body, he was met with the sight of Twilight giving him a rather expecting look, her brow arched higher and hoof tapping against the ground, indicating her impatience. He gave an uneasy laugh as the familiar quill and notepad floated into view; she was _still_ carrying them around?

"I hate being stared at, the people where I'm from think they're being subtle, but they're not. The ponies here aren't as bad," he added hastily, as he took note of the look of panic that flashed across her face, revealing her worry that he'd been offended. "They actually have a good reason to stare. But… where I'm from, I get stared at for simple stupid things like who I am or some ridiculous rumor. It's a bit upsetting."

Twilight stopped abruptly, turning to lay a comforting hoof on his shoulder again. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have brought you out yet," she mumbled with regret. "I didn't –"

"Don't worry about it. Like I said, they have a reason to stare." Celestia's student felt her regret wash away as a bit of the familiar warmth of reassurance and friendship. "I'd rather they stare and speculate _what_ I am than for –"

"WATCH OUT, TWILIGHT!"

Mare and boy froze and made to turn around, searchingfor the source of the three young voices, the voices of three young fillies, cut through the peaceful atmosphere and halted all conversation. Twilight's eyes widened as her brain kicked in and realized what was about to come next; she knew all too well who these young fillies were. She threw herself to the ground, covering her head with her hooves and called out a warning. "Harry! Duck!"

Too late! Instinctively, Harry turned around to fully face the source of the disturbance. He didn't have time to yell, he didn't have time to leap out of the way, he didn't even have time for his eyes to widen in shock…

By the time his brain had caught up, his vision was filled with orange and purple, his ears split by the shrieks of fear. Harry felt something blunt impact with his forehead, stars exploded behind his eyes and a rush of pain erupted from his forehead.

His world faded to blissful darkness as panicked voices cried out from far away…

**Chapter End**


End file.
